Staff: Mentor

If I understand the question properly, in both cases you start 20 ft below the surface?

I see no way of surviving in neither case. Our density is very similar to water, so with full lungs we in fact float near the surface, there is no need for a substantial effort to keep us there (most of the struggle is to keep head high enough for breathing). In ethanol - because of a low density - you will sink to the bottom, it would be like trying to swim in water with a 20 kg stone attached. In honey you won't get to the surface fast enough to survive (although after some time your body will be much easier to collect, as it will reach the surface on its own).

Evidently the alcohol end of this question is one that fascinates many, since Googling unearths a rich lode of hits. The OP has already been given some particularly macabre answers; here's a link to more:

The scenario envisioned in the above link is a tiny bit different - "what happens if I jump into a swimming pool full of hard alcohol" - but the results are deemed to just as unpleasantly fatal. E.g.:

"As you are in the air, you will likely begin to feel the effects of alcohol inhalation. Enjoy the few fractions of a second of buzz – things are about to get bad. As you hit, you'll get a preview of what you're in for. Small cuts on your feet and legs will sting, and maybe your skin will start to chill and feel like you just suddenly did the reverse of moisturising.

"Then the real pain will start – as you hit the first sensitive parts of your body, where live cells are exposed, or where the skin is thinner and nerves are clustered. As your sexual organs and anus submerge you will feel pain like the wrong end of the nastiest bowl of Texas chilli you ever imagined."

Another source quotes it as being 2000-3000 cps, and water at 1-5 cps. Still, it's many times more viscous than it is dense - so the added buoyancy doesn’t seem like it will offset the viscosity that much.